Getting Through The Sickness Bug

I suffer quite badly with migraines and I spend nearly every day worrying about when my next one will come on. They happen with no warning and I haven’t quite found out what the triggers are yet. Parenting with a migraine is absolutely awful. All you want to do is hide away and sleep it off but you just can’t because there are little people depending on you for everything.

This past week our little household was hit by a sickness bug. I always feel guilt when I get ill but seeing any of my girls poorly is just heart wrenching. It was actually P3 who was hit first. It happened so randomly and we’d popped her to bed when I heard the coughing. She was sat up in her bed being sick and from that moment I knew we were in for a bad night. The poor mite was sick every hour throughout the night until 9am, so for about 12 hours.

I got very little sleep being squished up between a puking baby and my husband who sleeps through nearly anything. I think the fact that tiredness had lowered my immune system and the fact that I have P3 attached to me literally all day, meant that I was susceptible to get the illness next. I woke that following night at 4:45am feeling pretty sick. And it began for me. I seemed to have it more violently which was probably because mine started and carried on through waking hours so I wasn’t able to sleep.

I always struggled to cope when I get poorly. The girls seem ultra demanding when I am ill which leaves me feeling very guilty that I am being the worst mother ever by keeping them inside because I have zero energy. I could not keep anything down, not even water until around 2pm. I managed to shower and get myself dressed because P2 and P3 really needed to get out of the house.

We decided to take them to the Nature Trail. I figured that if I needed to be sick then I could dart into a bush or something. As we arrived P2 threw up in the car. I wasn’t sure if this was the start of her catching our sickness bug or if she was just a little travel sick which is common. But she seemed to flake quite quickly during our walk through the woods. When we got home, she began to be sick frequently.

Our sickness bug was a rapid one. It seemed to last for just a few hours or so but left us feeling pretty wiped out. Thankfully Hubby and P1 haven’t caught anything yet, Hubby just felt a bit nauseous. Someone called me a superwoman on my Facebook feed and I laughed inside. I feel so incredibly useless when I am poorly. I cry each time I am sick because I hate the way illnesses just take over and control you. I also hate the way my girls look petrified as I hang my head over a bowl or the toilet.

Being ill as parent is the worst. Blake and my husband got the sickness bug a few days before Christmas last year and then I was ill with it Xmas eve so spent Xmas day not want to eat or do much. I must admit I struggle too when ill especially when my husband’s at work and I have Blake to look after.

Oh ,i feel for you. I have suffered from migraines all my life and they are becoming more and more frequent recently (last one was saturday!). I end up just lying on the floor with a bowl and not being able to move or open my eyes and the mummy guilt is the worst a my husband works away a lot so i cannot even parent or get up when i have one. A few weeks ago, i had a really intense one. Managed to somehow get the girls from school, got home and i lay on the kitchen floor with my cheek on the cold tiles for at least an hour and i just had to let the girls fend for themselves. I still feel so guilty about it now but i literally couldn’t stand up. My 8 year old just got lots of snacks for her and her sister and they had a picnic dinner and took themselves to bed. There is literally nothing you can do is there! Those migraines are horrid and are completely paralysing!

Jodie Fisher

Welcome I am a young mum of three daughters; P1 born 2008, P2 born 2013 and P3 who was born in 2014. Our eldest is suspected to have ASD and we are going through that diagnosis process at the moment. Together with my family we cover topics relating to parenting, our daily struggles and joys of life, product reviews, our travel adventures, baking, crafts and everything in between. I hope you enjoy being here and please contact me if you have any queries.